Decoders in storage systems often do not handle noisy data and as a result decoding is often a fairly straightforward process. In some systems, a soft output Viterbi decoder performs decoding first and then a low-density parity-check (LDPC) decoder operates on the data. For most data read back from a storage system, the data can be decoded properly the first time. If the decoders fail, however, error recovery techniques must be used. Although some error recovery techniques exist, it would be desirable if new recovery techniques could be developed which are faster and/or produce better results (e.g., so a read processor can decode very noisy data that other recovery techniques are not able to properly decode).